[Jobinfo] Fwd: JOBS: 2 post-doc medical imaging positions in UK

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	JOBS: 2 post-doc medical imaging positions in UK
Date: 	Thu, 30 Jun 2016 15:56:29 +0100
From: 	Bob Fisher <rbf@inf.ed.ac.uk>
To: 	wp@cg.tuwien.ac.at



Below are 2 post-doc medical imaging positions in
Belfast and Dundee in the VAMPIRE project.
Contact E.Trucco@dundee.ac.uk for more details.

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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

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1 POSTDOC RA

COMPUTATIONAL VISION FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE:
EYE VESSELS ANALYSIS

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Closing date:    July 1st, 2016
Duration:        12 months
Salary range:    ?26,552-?34,595
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We seek to recruit a postdoc specialist of medical image analysis within a collaborative project involving Ulster University, the Royal Victoria Hospital (Belfast), the University of Dundee (VAMPIRE project team), and Health Intelligence Ltd.

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THE PROJECT
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There is an urgent need for new ways to identify individuals at most risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, and to help clinicians in assigning the right medication to the right time. The project aims to develop an innovative screening process based on inspection of small blood vessels easily accessible for imaging in the eye. Central to the project is the development of medical image analysis algorithms and tools for detecting small vessels in the eye and quantifying their morphology.

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SHORT JOB DESCRIPTION
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The successful candidate will be employed by Ulster University but seconded to the Dundee VAMPIRE laboratory, working under Prof Emanuele Trucco's supervision. He/she will develop software detecting small eye vessels and computing morphometric parameters like caliber, tortuosity, density, as well as dynamic ones. This development will benefit and build on the substantial experience and software available  in the VAMPIRE team (vampire.computing.dundee.ac.uk). VAMPIRE (Vessel Assessment and Measurement for Images of the REtina) is a research initiative started in 2007 by the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee, and growing a suite of software tools supporting research on retinal biomarkers for a range of systemic conditions, but also clinical assessment (lesion detection and quantitative assessment) and rich support for diagnosis.

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How to apply
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Please apply online at the Ulster University job site, www.ulster.ac.uk/jobs , job reference 1543490.

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FURTHER INFORMATION
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For informal queries on this position please contact in the first instance Prof Emanuele Trucco, VAMPIRE/CVIP, Univ of Dundee: e dot trucco at dundee dot ac dot uk . For informal queries on the overall project please contact Prof Tara Moore, Ulster University:  t dot moore at ulster dot ac dot uk .


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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

1 POSTDOC RA
GRADE 7, 30,000-34,000 UKP PER YEAR

MULTI-MODAL RETINAL BIOMARKERS FOR VASCULAR DEMENTIA:
DEVELOPING ENABLING IMAGE ANALYSIS TOOLS

VAMPIRE/CVIP, UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE

CLOSING DATE:    8 AUGUST 2016

TENABLE UNTIL APRIL 2018
Extension possible, depending on availability of further funding.


We invite applications from excellent candidates for the post detailed below.

The post offers an exceptional opportunity to join a strong team of investigators to work on a timely and high-potential project, tackling one of the most serious health threats of our time, dementia, in a cross-disciplinary environment. The post is part of a cohesive, interdisciplinary team, including  the VAMPIRE teams (vampire.computing.dundee.ac.u), working on complementary aspects of the project. These include clinical data collection and preparation, validation and classification; OCT and fundus image analysis algorithm development; multi-modal retinal image measurements; brain image data analysis algorithm development; brain image data measurements; and statistical analysis.


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Key requirements at a glance
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PhD and experience in medical image analysis and machine learning, ideally retinal image analysis, incl. image segmentation, feature-based representations, image classification. Strong achievement track at PhD level. Team player.

The post holder will work closely together with a large team at the Universities of Dundee and Edinburgh, including clinicians and medical image analysis experts, to develop algorithms and software to extract features from retinal fundus images, investigate their role in associations with outcomes related to dementia, and discover novel retinal features associated with dementia using machine learning.
Please see below for a more extended job description.

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The project
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Within the targeted call "Sensing and Imaging for Diagnosis of Dementia", the EPSRC has awarded a 3-year grant, ?Multi-modal retinal biomarkers for vascular dementia: developing enabling image analysis tools?, to a multidisciplinary team of investigators in the Universities of Dundee (Prof Emanuele Trucco, Prof Stephen McKenna, Dr Alex Doney) and Edinburgh (Prof Ian Deary, Prof Bal Dhillon, Dr Fergus Doubal, Dr Tom MacGillivray, Prof Joanna Wardlaw). The statistical learning and image processing group of the Univ of Genova, Italy (Dr A Barla), is an external collaborator.

Our central question is to determine whether the retina can provide reliable biomarkers for future risk of cognitive decline or dementia, and sensitive biomarkers of disease progression that reflect underlying microvessel, neuronal and/or axonal damage in the brain.

There are two key objectives.
(1) Develop and validate algorithms to detect and quantify (a) retinal features in fundus images (vascular, RNFL, lesions) and OCT scans (layer description); and (b) novel brain features, e.g.,  computational measures of perivascular spaces, complementing those already available.
(2) Using cross-linked repositories already available in Edinburgh and Dundee, analyse associations between combinations of retinal and brain features with clinical parameters, to provide a first pilot-level indication of biomarkers for dementia. In particular, we shall consider mixed, multi-modal sets of retinal and brain features, incl. non-semantic textural, morphological and contextual features investigated by computer vision research but not yet considered in clinical biomarker research.

This project is part of a vision aimed ultimately to the deployment of an effective, inexpensive, noninvasive, easily accessible test of dementia prodromes, and to the investigation of powerful, combined brain-retina biomarkers of vascular dementia.
Our consortium is ideally placed to pursue this vision, including proven experience in computer vision, neuroimaging, cognitive decline, stastical analysis and machine learning. The Universities of Edinbugh and Dundee command access to substantial repositories of cross-linked clinical data (Farr Institutes) for patients diagnosed with dementia, including retinal fundus and OCT scans, and CT and functional brain data. The investigators bring together leading expertise in neuroimaging, cognitive ageing and decline, computer vision, and retinal image analysis (see group descriptions below).

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Short job description
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Postdoc Research Assistant (grade 7, 30-34,000 per year)

This post is tenable until the end of the project (April 2018), under the direction of Prof Emanuele Trucco and Prof Stephen McKenna, who co-ordinate the computer vision and image processing (CVIP) group and the Dundee VAMPIRE team in Computing, School of Science and Engineering, Univ of Dundee.

The RA will develop and validate algorithms for the analysis of fundus images, especially vasculature, and investigate novel image representations and their potential for biomarker research; collaborate with the Edinburgh RAs on the development of medical image  analysis algorithms; contribute to image measuring, once the necessary software has been validated; take an active role in technical project management, including reporting and interfacing with partners; and drive the generation of high-quality publications. We expect involvement in the co-supervision of VAMPIRE UG and PG project students.

You will be a good team player and an energetic, independent individual committed to research, with a PhD, and experience in medical image analysis and machine learning, ideally retinal image analysis, incl. image segmentation, feature-based representations, image classification. A strong achievements track at PhD level is expected. You will have experience of MATLAB and C++ programming under Windows and of designing, implementing and testing medical image analysis algorithms.


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How to apply
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Application forms and the job advert will appear on the University of Dundee job site, www.jobs.dundee.ac.uk.

For informal queries please contact
Prof Emanuele Trucco at e.trucco@dundee.ac.uk.
You may want to provide a detailed CV with your informal contact.


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Groups and institutions participating in the project
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Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE), Univ of Edinburgh, www.ccace.ed.ac.uk .

Division of Neuroimaging, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, Univ of Edinburgh MacGillivray, Wardlaw, Doubal. www.neuroimage.ed.ac.uk , www.bric.ed.ac.uk .

Computer Vision and Image Processing group (CVIP), Univ of Dundee, an internationally visible research unit specializing in image processing for medical and life sciences applications, and human activity analysis for security, biometrics, and biomechanics. Based in the School of Computing, University of Dundee. cvip.computing.dundee.ac.uk .

The Farr Institute @ Scotland is a collaboration between six Scottish Universities and NHS National Services Scotland. The aim is to both improve the health of the Scottish population and place Scotland as a global leader in health informatics research. www.farrinstitute.org/centre/Scotland/3_About.html

VAMPIRE (Vessel Assessment and Measurement Platform for Images of the REtina) is an international initative led by the Universities of Dundee (Trucco) and Edinburgh (MacGillivray), developing software for quantitative analysis of multimodal retinal images, biomarker discovery for various conditions, and more. vampire.computing.dundee.ac.uk

-- 
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.




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